Category Archives: Astrobotic

Friday / 9 January 2026

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Artemis Human Landings Anticipated with Preparatory FLIP, then FLEX Rovers

Launching NET July 2026 via 63,800kg-capacity Falcon Heavy, under NASA-CLPS US$322M award, Astrobotic Griffin-1 lander with 625kg capacity targets Nobile Crater, ~85°S, 53°E; primary payload Venturi Astrolab 500kg FLIP rover testing hyper-deformable tires, telerobotic mobility, thermal resilience, dust mitigation for larger FLEX vehicle; ~1,000kg-capacity FLEX launches in HLS lander NET 2027 on 200,000kg-capacity Starship Super-Heavy; FLIP rover is critical pathfinder for sustainable lunar infrastructure, carrying Interlune instrument seeking H3 / water ice, as well as 40-micron-thin nickel disks with millions of images of human endeavors, and Space Age Publishing Company weekly Space Calendar and Moon Messages

Image Credits: Astrobotic, Astrolab, Arch Mission Foundation

Tuesday / 6 January 2026

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2026 Proposed Moon Missions to Advance Science, Prepare for Human Landings

Artemis 2 launching NET 6 Feb for Moon flyby, presaging NET 2028 landing of first woman and possibly 1st person of color or non-USA citizen; “early” 2026 Blue Origin cargo lander Mark-1 to test tech for Artemis 3 human lander; Intuitive Machines IM-3 plans H1 2026 science mission to Reiner Gamma, 7.5°N; Astrobotic Griffin-1 targeting July for taking Astrolab FLIP rover and its payloads to Nobile Crater at South Pole; “late” 2026 has Firefly sending Blue Ghost 2 to far side with Elytra orbital for comms, and China dispatching Chang’E-7 with lander, rover and hopper to hunt volatiles near South Pole

Image Credits: NASA, Astrobotic, Astrolab

Friday / 19 December 2025

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Astrobotic Clavius-S to Assist Lunar Surface and Cislunar Safety

Astrobotic of Pittsburgh PA, USA receives NASA funds for Small Business Innovation Research in development of night-surviving Clavius-S Moon-surface sensor to monitor objects in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO); Astrobotic to provide data as a service to government / companies; surface sensors to be integrated with multiple landers and Clavius orbiting sensors; surface unwanted light / reflection / glare is reduced / eliminated for enhanced tracking of LLO craft, including non-transmitting ones; 1 of 225 employees, Astrobotic Chief Research Scientist Andrew Horchler describes Clavius-S insights protecting critical Moon missions such as Artemis; NASA also awards ~US$600K of potential $4M for Astrobotic development by September 2027 of LiDAR-based dark-side navigation for safe / precise landings

Image Credits: Astrobotic Technology Inc., NASA

Friday / 7 November 2025

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3 Lunar Rovers: Alike Yet Different

NASA-specified Lunar Terrain Vehicle selection NET end-of-2025 for awards from total US$4.6B available; requirements include: minimum ~1250km yearly / ~19km daily operation while hauling ~800kg, robotic construction arm with interchangeable tools, remote / autonomous / driver operation, LIDAR / camera “vision”, NASA-developed electrodynamic dust shielding, micrometeorite shielding, several years’ life through temperatures +121° to -246°C; Lunar Outpost Eagle has joystick steering for seated Astronauts, 25kph top speed, Goodyear metal-mesh tires; Astrolab FLEX has joystick for standing operators driving front- or rear-forward, Venturi wheels of heated silicone / glass / steel, horseshoe chassis, system redundancy; Intuitive Machines Moon Racer has seated-joystick operation with handrail / winch entry, Michelin tires tested to -195°C, trailer-hauling system

Image Credits: NASA – Dave Scott on Apollo 15, (CW) Lunar Outpost, Intuitive Machines, Astrolab

Friday / 8 August 2025

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Agreement with Astrolab for Interlune Helium-3 Rover-Mounted Camera

Helium-3 lunar prospector Interlune will mount multispectral, multi-wavelength camera developed with NASA Ames on Astrolab FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) rover, headed to Nobile Crater ~85°S NET Q4 2025 on Astrobotic Griffin-1 lander, to seek titanium-rich ilmenite mineral correlated with helium-3; precursor for NET 2027 dedicated helium-3 mission, privately held Seattle-based Interlune has agreements for purchase by US Department of Energy and Maybell Quantum of Denver CO; estimated price for helium-3 is US$20 million per kg

Image Credits: Astrobotic, Astrolab, Interlune 

Friday / 13 June 2025

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Astrobotic Lunar Rover Ready to Go, Passes All Tests

CubeRover-1 ready 18 months early says project manager / lead mechanical engineer Andrea Davis of Astrobotic, Pittsburgh, who praises team, notes 16 years of development, US$20M+ cost for 4kg rover; 37 funders including Canadian Space Agency under Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program, and NASA Small Business Innovation Research award; rover has thermal-vacuum / electromagnetic survivability, software / communications compatibility; will fly on Griffin Mission One NET Nov with Astrolab ~500kg FLIP Rover, to land near Moon South Pole at Nobile Crater, 85°S

Credits: Astrobotic; Pictured CW: Griffin One lander, Andrea Davis with CubeRover, CubeRover team

Friday / 23 May 2025

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Astrobotic Announces Power Technology Breakthrough for Surviving Lunar Night

 Wireless charging is now commercially available for space applications, furthering Astrobotic goal “to make space accessible to the world”; 125W of power to rovers or astronaut-held tools will transfer from lander or Vertical Solar Array Technology platform, whether covered in 4cm of regolith dust, at -180°C, vibrating, or in an electromagnetic field with virtually no atmosphere; Astrobotic led WiBotic, Bosch, University of Washington and NASA Glenn in development, for ~54 months, under US$5.7M NASA Tipping Point contract; 400W system is in the works

Credits: Astrobotic

Tuesday / 6 May 2025

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Astrobotic Technology Aims for Moon Landing by Dec 2025

Astrobotic Griffin-1 lunar lander Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) technologies critical for soft Moon landing show themselves reliably successful in Mojave CA test; rocks / small craters down to 15 cm detected and avoided by camera and LiDAR, in Hazard Detection and Avoidance and Terrain Relative Navigation systems; scan area ~1,000,000 sq m (>2,200 football fields) allows safest specific site and landing accuracy within 50 m radius; landing expected in Nobile region near Moon South Pole with Astrolab FLIP rover by end of 2025

Credits: Astrobotic Technology, NASA

Friday / 28 March 2025

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Lunar Commercial Communications Now and in the Future

Astrobotic Griffin-1 Moon lander, NET late 2025, will carry a Stamper Technology NanoFiche device with movie Miracle on 34th Street, Long Now world language translator and portions of Lunar Codex, et al.; aiming for a multimillion-year archive of human achievement, the device is made to survive thermal, mechanical and radiation extremes; Intuitive Machines (IM) and Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) are using NASA awards from a US$4.82B fund to build lunar communications commercial services, IM working with York Space Systems to build relay satellites, and KSAT with CPI Vertex Antennentechnik to build 20-meter Earth antennas expected to be operational late this year

Credits: Astrobotic, Stamper Technology, IM, KSAT, NASA

Friday / 24 January 2025

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Moon Landers On-Track and Planned for 2025

Firefly Blue Ghost reporting nominal operations and receiving signals from 331,000+ km distance, projected lunar landing 2 Mar; ispace lander Resilience to attempt mission Milestone 5 lunar flyby ~15 Feb after reaching 1.1M km apogee, Moon touchdown earliest date 15 May; if Intuitive Machines IM-2 launches on planned date of 26 Feb, landing expected 6-7 Mar; Blue Moon Pathfinder to launch on Blue Origin New Glenn as early as summer 2025, while Astrobotic Griffin could launch in fall

Credits: SpaceX, ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Blue Origin, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines